Why Your Crypto Project is Likely to Fail

Why Your Crypto Project is Likely to Fail
January 13, 2026

A very high percentage of crypto projects fail, with recent data from CoinGecko indicating over 50% of cryptocurrencies launched since 2021 are now inactive, with failure rates spiking in 2024 and 2025 due to market turbulence, especially in the volatile memecoin sector. Some analyses suggest the failure rate is even higher, with one study estimating up to 90% of blockchain startups failing, highlighting issues with leadership, governance, and product viability.

So, where are these projects going wrong and how can you avoid being part of these negative statistics?

We’ve seen it too many times. Crypto projects and tokens launching, then failing soon after. 

Before we dive into the solution, the first question we need to answer is why are these projects failing? According to CoinGecko, 53.2% of all cryptocurrencies on GeckoTerminal have failed, with the majority failing in 2025 alone. This represented 11 million failed tokens – all in 2025 itself.

While there was plenty of turbulence during 2025 that affected the crypto market, and in particular, the memecoin sector – there are still deeper issues underlying the failure of so many crypto projects. 

So, why are they failing? 

• Market Speculation: Many projects lack substance, relying on hype and short-term trading rather than strong fundamentals.
• Weak Leadership: Poor governance and decision-making in startups are major contributors to failure.
• Lack of Research: Little or no research going into product market fit means no one wants what is built.
• Scams & Fraud: The ease of creating tokens leads to numerous scams and “rug pulls”. 

How to Make Your Crypto Project Successful

While the odds are stacked against you, there are clear ways to avoid falling into the pool of abandoned crypto projects.

The 5 Pillars of Enduring Web3 Projects

1. Real-World Utility is the Only Moat
Speculation drives spikes while utility drives long term growth. A token without a problem to solve is just a ticking time bomb. To last, you must offer an advantage over traditional solutions or enable something entirely new.

• Bitcoin: Solved peer-to-peer value transfer.
• Ethereum: Enabled programmable money and digital ownership.
• Solana: Cracked the code on speed and cost for consumer scale.

The Lesson: Don’t build a tokenomics experiment. Build a product people actually need.

2. Usability > Pure Decentralisation
If a user needs a degree in computer science to use your protocol, you’ve already failed. While decentralisation is the backbone, it cannot come at the cost of User Experience (UX). Mass adoption requires “invisible tech” which results in smooth onboarding and intuitive interfaces.

The Rule: If it’s not intuitive for a non‑technical user, it’s not ready for market.

3. Transparency is Non-Negotiable 

In an industry plagued by “trust me, bro,” radical transparency is your competitive advantage. Open-source code, public docs, and visible treasury management aren’t optional, they are the baseline for credibility.

The Standard: Establish trust before you ask for capital. Public audits and honest comms prevent rug-pull fears and attract serious partners.

4. Security is the Foundation, Not a Feature 

Innovation cannot rebuild what a hack destroys. A single exploit can evaporate a reputation instantly. Security must be baked into the DNA of the project, SOC2 must be a core part of the recipe, not applied as a patch after launch.

The Protocol: Professional audits, bug bounties, and multisig operational security are mandatory. In a trustless environment, your code must be trustworthy.

5. Prioritise Substance Over Hype

Token price is a vanity metric; active, educated users are the reality. A sustainable ecosystem isn’t built by traders flipping coins or marketing hype, it’s built by people who understand the product and use it daily.

• Measure what matters: Chase retention and organic transaction volume, not market cap. If you build undeniable utility, the price will take care of itself.
• Teach, don’t just sell: The crypto space is complex. It is your responsibility to guide your users and your team through the risks. An educated community provides better feedback, holds longer, and becomes your strongest advocate.

Let’s Talk about Tokens (vs. Equity)

Raising venture capital and launching a token are two entirely different ball games. With Venture Capital (VC) backing, you answer to a board to maximise equity value for a strategic exit; the pressure is private and contained.

Launching a token shifts that accountability to a global, 24/7 community demanding immediate price action and total transparency, this moves the stress from the boardroom to the public square, where the scrutiny is relentless.

The Tale of Two Markets in 2025

The divergence in capital allocation during 2025 illustrated this conflict perfectly.

On one end of the spectrum lay the “Casino” meta, epitomised by the Pump.fun ecosystem, which churned out tens of thousands of tokens daily. These were pure speculation vehicles which generated massive initial spikes but vanished within weeks or minutes into thin air because they lacked any product foundation.

Conversely, infrastructure giants like Monad ($225M raise led by Paradigm) and Story Protocol ($80M+ raise led by a16z) took the opposite route, building for years, hitting milestones before introducing a token. For them, the Token Generation Event (TGE) wasn’t a liquidity exit but a milestone in the roadmap designed to decentralise a working product.

While the casino tokens offered quick flips that died young, these infrastructure plays survived the hype cycle because they were anchored in solving tangible problems like scalability and on-chain IP management.

The Danger Zone: Misaligned Incentives

The biggest friction occurs when a team tries to serve two masters, maximising equity value for shareholders while promising protocol value to token holders.

Real-World Case Study: The Aave Labs vs. DAO in the winter of discontent 2025

Aave, a DeFi giant, faced a governance crisis when Aave Labs (the development company) rerouted  close to $10 million in annual revenue from the frontend integration, CoW Swap, to their own corporate accounts rather than the DAO treasury.

The Conflict: Equity holders (Aave Labs) viewed the frontend as their proprietary product to monetise. Token holders (DAO) viewed it as value extraction from the protocol they governed.

The Result: A “civil war” over brand assets, allegations of vote-buying, and a crash in community trust.

The Lesson: You cannot treat your community as an ATM while treating your equity holders as the “real” owners.

Your Strategy: Product First, Token Second 

In crypto, you can’t just launch a token and hope the utility appears later.

1. Build the Product: Establish product-market fit and generate real revenue. This powers business-led growth.
2. Treat the Token as a Growth Asset: Don’t use the token to pay salaries; use it to incentivise user behavior that benefits the network.
3. Unlock Community-Led Growth: Once the foundation is solid, give the community ownership. Genuine engagement will drive organic momentum that no marketing budget can buy.

The Era of Easy Wins is Over

The 11 million failed tokens of 2025 aren’t just a statistic; they are a signal that the market has evolved. The “move fast and break things” mantra of early crypto has been replaced by a new reality: move smart or get broken.

Surviving the 90% failure rate isn’t about luck.

It is about deliberately choosing utility over speculation, security over speed, and community alignment over short-term extraction.

The projects that define the next decade won’t be the ones with the loudest hype cycles, but the ones that treat their token as a sacred contract with their users, backed by a product that solves a genuine problem.

The blueprint for longevity is clear.

The question is no longer if you can launch a token, but whether you have built the foundation to keep it alive.

Need help navigating the Web3 space and refining your Web3 marketing strategy? Take3 provides customised marketing solutions to elevate your Web3 business. Contact us today! ✌️